Last year, the Freeplay Independent Games festival saw 35 games submitted to its awards program. This year, more than 100 games were sent in, in various stages of completion, from various genres, and touching on a wide variety of subjects. There were so many games that the original four judges simply couldn’t cope, calling in extras to help out.
And judge they have, with each category narrowed down to just three finalists. The judges were “hugely impressed with the range, diversity, and originality of entries” – something that’s reflected in the final list. To find out who won, you’ll have to stick around until September 23rd – the 2012 Freeplay Awards will be presented as part of the Festival‘s closing celebrations, on Sunday evening at the Order of Melbourne.
Ooh, fancy!
Until then, though – here’s the list of finalists!
Best Audio in a Game
- Expand – Christopher Johnson
- Lunar Flight – Sean Edwards
- They Love You – Zac Duff, Henrik Pettersson, Paul Annesley, and Nathan Antony
Best Writing in a Game
- AUTHENTIC IN ALL CAPS – Christy Dena
- Flatland: Fallen Angle – See Through Studios
- Gamebook Adventures 8: Infinite Universe – Andrew Drage
Best Technical Innovation
- [tesseract] – Douglas Warouw
- Automation – The Car Company Tycoon Game – Camshaft Software
- Lunar Flight – Sean Edwards
Best Concept Art
- DEATHSPUDS – Josh Sacco / Adam Taylor
- One Seed – Ariel Magnes
- Peleda – Vishus Productions / Fiasco Studios
Best Art in a Game
- Little Things Forever – Matthew Hall
- The Last Stand: Dead Zone – Con Artist Games
- Toybox – Barrel of Donkeys
Best Design in a Game
- escapeVektor – Nnooo
- Stickets – Harry Lee
- They Love You – Zac Duff, Henrik Pettersson, Paul Annesley, and Nathan Antony
Best International Game
- HUEBRIX – Yellow Monkey Studios
- Splice – Cipher Prime
- The Fourth Wall – Logan Fieth
Best Australian Game
- Little Things Forever – Matthew Hall
- Stickets – Harry Lee
- Toybox – Barrel of Donkeys
Unfortunately, even with the millions and billions of entries, the Freeplay judging committee were unable to “properly judge” the Best On Paper Design category. This category is taking a year off and will be back in 2013.
